May 17, 2019 - Christophe RouletEditorial
Is history a thing of the past?
For luxury brands hoping to engage “new” consumers, heritage and tradition are apparently more hindrance than help. Really?
More
News · Editorial
February 19. 2019 - Olivier R. MüllerEditorial
The Swiss watch exports have achieved a significant growth last year…. But there are few winners
The Federation of the Swiss watch industry (FH) has recently published the export figures for the month of December and hence the verdict for a year with contrasting signs.
More
January 20th 2017 - Alexandre GhotbiEditorial
Enough talk about the vintage watch craze
Over the past year we have heard more about the “vintage watch craze” than almost the whole of the last decade! But there is absolutely no craze, nor trend nor fad!
More
December 13th 2016 - Yves VulcanEditorial
Crowdfunding: a new alternative for the swiss watchmaking ?
The peregrinations of a crowdfunded and radically upfront brand
In March 2016, a mysterious posse of cowboys going by the name of GOLDGENA PROJECT made waves in the tranquil waters of Swiss watchmaking when they revealed the secrets of Swiss Made...
More
September 29th 2016 - Steeves EmmeneggerEditorial
No more beans
The end of the beans thus heralded the onset of famine
And that’s precisely what might happen to companies that haven’t picked up on the paradigm shift we’re currently witnessing...
More
May 31st 2016 - Pierre MaillardEditorial
In search of a new model by Pierre Maillard
Are we looking at the end of a model, the model that has shaped the face of world watchmaking over the last two decades?
Given the plethora of factors conspiring to destroy or seriously compromise the foundations of this unique sector of economic activity, we’re tempted to say yes.
More
April 29th 2016 - Sompol MingkhuanEditorial
A new era of watch-shows and a digital world
Someone said we are in the middle of another industrial revolution.
The revolution becomes obvious when people around the globe start to utilize something that is 'impalpable' using computerized and hi-tech gadgets...
More
March 31th 2016 - Ariel AdamsEditorial
Watch makers, like watch lovers, are totally crazy
To many people the definition of “crazy” is knowing that you are doing something irrational and continuing to do it
Our delusion as watch lovers is crazy, but perhaps the watch industry itself is even more guilty of living with obvious insanity.
More
February 29th 2016 - Gisbert BrunnerEditorial
Is a storm brewing? The watch industry in the run-up to the trade fairs
Apart from the Lehman Brothers hiccup in 2009, the annual figures for Swiss watch exports have continued to rise steadily since 2003.
An important contribution to this trend has been the sharp increase in consumption in Far Eastern countries, particularly China.
More
January 25th 2016 - David ChokronEditorial
A bright future
Given its freedom of expression, creativity and inventiveness, this industry—sometimes described as conservative
It’s hard to deny that mechanical watchmaking is indestructible. Its technological foundations may be outdated, but it remains as relevant as ever and continues to make hearts beat well beyond the rather restricted confines of luxury circles.
More
November 25th 2015 - Su Jia Xian (SJX)Editorial
Who is going to fix them in the future?
In the next decade or so, all of these pricey, complicated timepieces are going to require an overhaul. What is going to happen?
All things mechanical need to be serviced. The gears, wheels, pinions, springs need to be cleaned and lubricated once every so often. That needs to done by a watchmaker.
More
October 25th 2015 - Thomas WankaEditorial
Only Uniqueness creates genuine Values
A wristwatch shows the time in no time. But Time is a phenomenon that eludes definition by philosophers and scientists alike.
How could time’s value possibly be measured? Personal taste and individualized advice from an expert onsite cannot determine the price of precious time, but can influence the value we ascribe to it.
More
September 25th 2015 - Vasken ChokarianEditorial
Swiss time must always remain… Swiss
Swiss fine watchmaking is not an industry, but Art.
Historically, there was no such thing as a certain “department” within a timepiece manufacturing setup, which dictates the influence and the directions of the development and innovation of new products...
More
August 25th 2015 - Roberta NaasEditorial
Métiers d’Arts No Longer Relegated to Dials
Over the past decade, the watch industry has witnessed incredible growth in the concept of presenting the dial as art
A canvas of sorts, this space -- tinier than two inches in diameter -- has become a home for artists to reinterpret techniques and timeless themes.
More
August 4th 2015 - Elena IntronaEditorial
Manufacture movements
For a respected watchmaking brand, nothing is more prestigious than being able to flaunt its own Manufacture movements
Today, Swiss Manufactures as we once knew them can be counted on two hands. To produce a new movement, a company must generally be equipped with at least ten different machines and, given that production costs for a single movement range from 250,000 to 300,000 euros...
More
July 3rd 2015 - Grégory PonsEditorial
Watchmaking Demographics
Every week, two new watchmaking brands are created
New generations want new brands and new watches, at new prices.
Swiss watch exports are shrinking. Yet watchmaking demographics are growing! Every year, a hundred-some new watchmaking brands are born—around two a week—across all price segments and on every continent.
More
June 19th 2015 - Joe ThompsonEditorial
Seems like old times
Unit exports of Swiss mechanical watches have more than doubled over the past five years. How high can the mechanical rise?
Switzerland exported 8.13 million mechanical watches in 2014. That’s the most in 32 years.
The surge is recent and significant. Switzerland’s now famous mechanical-watch renaissance of the 1990s and 2000s has entered a new phase, as emerging markets in the Far East embrace mechanical watches.
More